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Juno
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Dictation apps

Juno vs FluidVoice

The best free dictation app on the Mac, and the only one here that also acts. Command Mode fires the action you mapped. Juno works out the steps you did not.

FluidVoice deserves the attention it gets. It is free, it is GPLv3, transcription runs on your Mac, it carries a roster of local models most paid apps do not offer, and it is quick enough that the developer puts a sub hundred millisecond figure on the site. Eleven thousand GitHub stars is not an accident.

It is also the one app on this page that does not simply stop at the text box. Command Mode will launch apps, run Shortcuts, fire system actions and execute terminal commands by voice, which is more than any other dictation app here attempts.

The catch is the word mapped. Command Mode does what you configured it to do, and it is not much use until you have done that configuring. It is a voice driven launcher, so it belongs to the same family as Shortcuts and Keyboard Maestro. Juno has no mapping step because it has no map. It looks at what is actually on the screen and works out the steps, which is why it can operate an app nobody wrote a command for.

Side by side

  • Voice to text at your cursor

    Juno
    Yes

    FluidVoice
    Yes

  • Transcription runs locally

    Juno
    Yes

    FluidVoice
    Yes

  • Speech models offered

    Juno
    Whisper, several sizes

    FluidVoice
    Whisper, Parakeet, Nemotron, Cohere, Apple Speech

  • Acting on what you said

    Juno
    Any app, worked out from the screen

    FluidVoice
    Actions you mapped in advance

  • Setup before it can act

    Juno
    None

    FluidVoice
    You configure the command mappings

  • Works in apps with no automation support

    Juno
    Yes, it reads the screen

    FluidVoice
    No

  • Multi step tasks across apps

    Juno
    Yes, from one sentence

    FluidVoice
    Only if you scripted the chain

  • Wake word

    Juno
    Yes, and you choose it

    FluidVoice
    No, global hotkey

  • Price

    Juno
    Free

    FluidVoice
    Free

  • Cost per task

    Juno
    Model usage for agent work, dictation is free

    FluidVoice
    None

  • Licence

    Juno
    FSL-1.1-MIT, becomes MIT

    FluidVoice
    GPLv3

  • macOS required

    Juno
    14 Sonoma or later

    FluidVoice
    15 Sequoia or later

  • Other platforms

    Juno
    None

    FluidVoice
    Windows pre-build, iPhone coming

Where FluidVoice is the better pick

  • Speed. It is built around latency and offers models chosen for it, and on pure dictation it is likely faster than Juno today.
  • The licence. GPLv3 now beats a licence that becomes MIT later, and for some people that difference decides it.
  • It is free all the way down. Juno's dictation costs nothing either, but agent tasks run on a model you pay for. FluidVoice never sends you a bill.
  • A wider choice of local speech models, including Parakeet and Nemotron, where Juno offers Whisper.
  • Dictation polish Juno has not built: per app tone settings, audio history with export, and a notch overlay.
  • It runs on Windows already and iPhone is coming. Juno is Mac only.
  • If what you want is dictation, it is the one we would point you at before any paid app on this page.

Where Juno pulls ahead

  • Nothing to map. You describe the task in ordinary words and it works out the steps.
  • It reads the screen, so it can work software that exposes no Shortcuts, no CLI and no automation of any kind.
  • One sentence can cross four apps, including apps that have never heard of each other.
  • A wake word, so your hands never have to find the hotkey.
  • It runs on macOS 14, where FluidVoice needs 15.
  • The CLI hands the same screen, mouse and keyboard to Claude Code, Cursor and Codex over MCP.
  • Companion mode watches without clicking, Escape stops it mid action, and every action is logged.

Where the line actually falls

Command Mode and Juno look similar in a feature list and are not the same kind of thing. Command Mode is a router: a phrase you chose, pointed at an action you chose, fired reliably every time. That is genuinely useful and it is faster than an agent for anything you do daily. Juno is for the rest, the jobs you would never bother mapping because you will do them once. Open the invoice in the tab behind this one, pull the totals, and put them in the sheet. There is no line in a config file for that. If you want both, run both, and give them separate keys.

Questions people ask

FluidVoice already has a Command Mode. Why would I add Juno?
Because Command Mode runs the commands you set up. If you have not mapped something, it cannot do it, and most people never map more than a handful. Juno needs no mapping because it reads the screen and reasons about what it sees, so it handles the one off jobs that were never worth configuring.
Is Juno's dictation faster than FluidVoice?
Probably not. FluidVoice is built around latency and ships models picked for speed, and the site claims under a hundred milliseconds. Juno transcribes locally with Whisper and faster models are what we are working on now. Both are free, so try them against your own voice rather than taking either claim on trust.
Both are free and both are on GitHub. What is the licence difference?
FluidVoice is GPLv3. Juno is FSL-1.1-MIT, which is source available and converts to MIT two years after each release. GPLv3 is more permissive today and we are not going to blur that.
Does Juno cost anything to run?
Dictation is local and free. Agent tasks run on a model you supply, either the Claude plan you already pay for or an API key, so those cost what the model costs. FluidVoice has no model bill at all because it does not run an agent.
Can I run both?
Yes, and it is a sensible setup. Keep FluidVoice for fast dictation and mapped commands, and give Juno a separate trigger for the tasks worth handing off. Just make sure they do not share a hotkey.

Free, and the source is public. macOS 14+.

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